Often Irreverent, Mostly Rational Blog for Fans of the Toronto Blue Jays. One Day, We'll Be Perfect.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Tweetbaggery: You ask . We answer. Sorta.

Tweets! Answered! And the crazy comes right at the top!

@LD10 just lost again at Roll Up the Rim. Nevertheless, he asks: how many years until Lawrie wins MVP?

Okay, simmer down there Gordie. It's fun to get out of your mind excited about a prospect. But can we cool it down for a second on Brett Lawrie? What you (and every other Dougie Canadian) are doing is building up expectations on a young man which he'll have a hard time living up to. It's like looking at your new born and saying: "One day, you'll be the greatest (insert your own preoccupation here...ballerina, hockey player, pole dancer, school administrator...what have you)."

Can't we just let the dude go and get some reps, get himself ready and build his way into what we hope will be a long and productive career? Relax.

Man about town @MassF throws it down like it ain'no thang: Assuming Morrow misses just 1 start who stays and who goes between JL Jo-Jo and KD?

This is a trick question that supposed to get us to deny our undying affection for Jo-Jo Reyes, and we're not having it. What happens is that Morrow comes back, and Jo-Jo goes to the pen temporarily, while the team invents an injury for David Purcey so that they can put him on the DL and have a long rehab period while he recovers from hysterical blindness. Or some such thing.

You know, if you sing "Gotta freak out about something" to the tune of Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", you can totally lose your train of thought. Especially when you get to the "ma ma se ma ma sa ma ma coo sa"part. Sorry, what did you ask?

Ah yes, Cecil.

We'll put it to you this way: We don't want to encourage freaking out, because frankly, it's not good for you. It puts you in a foul state of mind, and you end up doing crazy stuff just to make yourself feel better. (At least, that's a couple of hundred episodes of Intervention have led us to believe.) Let the season play out, and let's see what we have to actually freak out about before we start inventing scenarios to lead us to anguish.

We ask you THF: Will you accept this gift of sanity that we offer you here today?

The Nefarious Y.V.R., dlbrows, taking a break from attempting to run the Roto-Hoedown of its rails, asks: bigger year, Adam Lind or Travis Snider? (relevant to the Hoe-Down)

Oh that's rich. (And yes you bear all the blame. Drew is absolved.) But if we must help you in any way in the Hoe-Down, we would say that the upside of both players is about the same, and the question is who is best equipped to reach that upside. Most of the projections that we've seen would tend towards Lind because of his past performance, and we'd tend to agree, at least in HRs, OBP, and SLG. Snider (depending on his spot in the batting order) could be stronger in Runs, and Net Stolen Bases.

Over the next three years, though? We'd definitely take Snider.

Life is just a fantasy, BlueJayHunter can live his fantasy life:Who is your Fantasy Baseball mancrush this year and why the bromance for said player?

We hate to give away our real targets on the eve of our fantasy baseball drafts. So we won't. (Nice try!) But we'll go a little further down the board and pimp one of our home nine's more interesting options: Rajai Davis.

Davis is going to have an everyday job in Toronto, mostly because there are precious other options in center. (And if Corey Patterson were to make the team and get a regular turn, we'd image that Davis would shift to a corner.) Plus, he's going to run. And even more so, he's going to a hitter's park for the first time in his career. We could see him hitting more than 15 homers and stealing more than 40 bags, which is a pretty intriguing combination for a third outfielder.

The man, the myth, the legend, Starbyson asks: pretend we're 2.5 games back in July. Who do we pick up at the deadline?

That question is way too hypothetical to even broach. It depends too much on who's healthy, who's hurt, who the Jays are chasing, and so on. But the bigger point here is that the Jays have started to assemble a very strong minor league system, and they should be cautious about emptying it out for the sake of a low-percentage run in 2011.

But if Colorado were offering up Ubaldo Jimenez, we'd be interested in listening.

My other brother, darelleats, asks: Q: Do you know where Griffin worked before he covered the Jays? He's never mentioned it and I'm legitimately curious.

You are funny.

@PdcD is all like" You can't see me or my tweets! Suck it!" Still, he offers:do u feel Rivera will surprise a few people and put up more than respectable numbers this yr being his 'contract yr'?

Yes, actually. We keep hearing about how Rivera is some useless slug, mostly from those who are in the pro-Lawrie camp. (Lawrie to third! JoBau to right! Cannon arm! Future MVP! BALLLLLSSS!!!!!)

And yet, we actually think that the best lineup that the Jays can put out every day has Rivera as part of it. His upside is 25 homers, 85 RBI and an OPS over .820, and a 1.5-2.0 WAR. Which don't seem unattainable, and seem very respectable from where we sit.

More modest projections figure him for 15 homers and an OPS in the .740 range, which we think is still better than what Lawrie would put up this year once the real men's games start in earnest.

Last one! NicholasDerosa asks:how's frasor been pitching? His velocity sucked this time last year

Indeed, Frasor's April was forgettable. But sometime after losing the closer's job to Kevin Gregg, his velocity mostly came back (his heater averaged 92.8 MPH for the year versus 93.8 for the previous...not an insignificant drop, but not off a cliff.) He had at least enough to get guys out.

As for this year, he's pitched four innings in fake games, and we haven't seen or heard any of them, and we won't read too much into the output (2Ks, 2BBs). We're not about to lobby for him to get the closer spot again. He's a decent arm, but we probably cast more thoughts towards Shawn Camp than him.

That's it! Go have a weekend! Everybody, get up and dance! Be happy for chrissakes!

Seems like all of Davis' hits this spring have been for extra bases - so the lack of SB's isn't too concerning. Can't steal after a HR or triple, and I wouldn't bother trying to steal 3rd after a double with JBau entering the on-deck circle. He's going to be a fun player to watch, that's for sure.

On a side note - I'm taking my 3 1/2 year old daughter to the April 2 game (bummed I'm missing Morrow, but happy to see Drabek live for the first time).

I cheaped out and bought us tickets up top in 525 because I figure she's not going to sit through the game, so why pay for real tickets, right?

Anyway, has anyway ever taken a kid to a Jr. Jays Saturday game, and what do you do to get the kid down to the field and in line for some autographs when they always herd those with 500-level tickets away from the 100 level and up that giant fucking ramp?

Buck16, just explain to an usher you're taking your daughter down to the field for the Jr. Jays thing. I can't imagine it would be any more difficult than the dozens of times I've walked without impediment to the 100 level directly from the gate I come in at with my 500 level tickets to watch the entire game from the concourse.